Guides: English Language and Literature Research Guide: Books and Articles

Abstracts, Bibliographies and Indices

Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature (ABELL).
Edited for the Modern Humanities Research Association by A.C. Paues. Cambridge: Bowes & Bowes, 1923-.
more...less...
Beginning in 1920, ABELL is an annual publication gathering together articles and books written on various areas of the English language, philology, and literature. Indexes of sources and abbreviations are given as well as indices on scholars, authors and filmmakers. A typical volume may cover: (1) English Language: Phonetics and Phonology, Grammar, Vocabulary, Lexicography, Names, Meaning, Medium and Register, Dialects, Translation and Comparative Linguistics; (2) Traditional Culture, Folklore and Folk life: Area Studies and Collection, proverbs, Riddles, Rhymes, Dites, and Proverbial Expressions, Narrative, Song, Music, Ballad, Dance, Drama, Custom, Belief, and more; (3) English Literature: General Literary Studies, Old English, Middle English, 15th century on up -- each century looking at drama, romance, poetry, prose, related studies, and authors. ABELL is a British publication and MLA International Bibliography is an American one.

Contemporary Authors This link opens in a new window
. Contemporary Authors provides complete biographical and bibliographical information and references on more than 120,000 U.S. and international authors.
Dictionary of Literary Biography This link opens in a new window
. Dictionary of Literary Biography provides nearly 16,000 biographical and critical essays on the lives, works, and careers of the world's most influential literary figures from all eras and genres.
Drama Online This link opens in a new window
.

English Literature 1660-1800: A Bibliography of Modern Studies.
Ronald Salmon Crane. 1st edition. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1950. Ref PR448 .E58
more...less...
Six volumes that cover the significant studies published between 1926 and 1970 on English literature from 1660-1800. Both articles and books are included. Many of the entries are critically annotated. Volume 1 contains years 1926-1938, Volume 2 contains years 1939-1950, Volume 3 contains years 1951-1956, Volume 4 contains years 1957-1960, Volume 5 contains years 1961-1965, and Volume 6 contains years 1966-1970.

Literature Criticism Online This link opens in a new window
Former "Contemporary Literary Criticism", an extensive collection of critical essays on contemporary authors. Each entry contains a Biographical/critical introduction, listing of principal works and sources for further study.
Literature Resource Center (Gale) This link opens in a new window
. Find up-to-date biographical information, overviews, full-text literary criticism and reviews on more than 130,000 writers in all disciplines, from all time periods and from around the world.
MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new window
. Produced by the Modern Language Association of America, the MLA International Bibliography indexes critical scholarship on literature, language, linguistics, drama and theater, and folklore. Coverage includes journal articles, series, monographs, dissertations, bibliographies, proceedings and other materials. The database includes all records indexed from 1926 to the present, approximately 2 million records.
Project MUSE - Premium Collection This link opens in a new window
Project MUSE was launched in 1995 by Johns Hopkins University Press and contains the full text of over 350 high quality humanities and social sciences journals from over 60 scholarly publishers.
World Shakespeare Bibliography This link opens in a new window
. The World Shakespeare Bibliography provides annotated entries for books, articles, book reviews, dissertations, theatrical productions and reviews, audiovisual materials, obituaries, electronic media, and other scholarly and popular materials relating to international Shakespeare scholarship from 1960 to the present. An earlier bibliography can be found in the Shakespeare Association Bulletin beginning with volume 3 (1928) and running to 1949 when it became the journal, Shakespeare Quarterly. Shakespeare Quarterly has one issue every year devoted entirely to the bibliography; this issue is titled ‘World Shakespeare Bibliography.’ The database JSTOR has the full text of Shakespeare Quarterly EXCLUDING the WSB.

Year's Work in English Studies
The aim of this eighty-seven volume work is to provide a record of the scholarship published during each year from 1919 to the present (the volumes are usually two years behind) relating to English language and literature. Online access is from 2011-2018. The volumes are comprised of bibliographic essays that discuss the merits of articles, essays, editions, and books published during the year that pertain to certain topics. Not every volume includes the same topics, so the scholar may have to peruse several volumes in order to find relevant resources. Later volumes introduce topics such as new literatures, modern literature, and bibliography and textual criticism. Each volume concludes with an index. This series is also available in First Floor Reference (PE58 .58)

Subject relevant databases

Other disciplines have databases that cover English Language and Literature from a different perspective.

International Medieval Bibliography This link opens in a new window
. A citation index to the European Middle Ages (400-1500). Disciplines covered include: Art History, Classics, English Language and Literature, Medieval European Languages and Literatures, History, Archaeology, Theology, Philosophy, Arabic and Islamic Studies, Music, Theatre and Performance Arts, Rhetoric and Communication Studies. No book reviews or monographs. 1967 – present. Search The Bibliographie de civilisation médiévale and the IMB simultaneously. The print version can be found in Room 316. T/P CB 1 .I61.
You may search the International Medieval Bibliography and the Bibliographie de civilisation médiévale as part of the Brepolis Medieval Bibliographies.
ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials This link opens in a new window
ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials is the major bibliographic database for journal articles, monographs, book reviews, and collections of essays in all fields of religion. More than 600 journals are indexed annually with ATLA Serials containing the full text articles from 60 journals in religion and theology with varying coverage going back more than 50 years. This database is produced by the American Theological Library Association.

Multidisciplinary Subject Databases

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
. Academic Search Complete is our largest, general database, offering thousands of full-text journals and unmatched coverage of information in almost all subjects. It offers indexing and abstracting for more than 9,500 journals and a total of some 10,000 publications including monographs, reports, conference proceedings, etc. Most of the periodicals are covered back to at least the early 1990s, but some content goes back as far as 1887.
Humanities International Complete This link opens in a new window
. A comprehensive database of humanities content, the HIC indexes and abstracts over 2,300 journals and contains over 2.9 million records. 1200 journals have full text availability. Coverage goes back as far as 1929.
ProQuest Research Library This link opens in a new window
. Multi-subject reference source covering general and academic periodicals; full-text is available for many journals. Current news to historical events. 1971 – present.
WorldCat (OCLC FirstSearch) This link opens in a new window
. WorldCat database is the OCLC online catalog. It contains over 179 million records describing library holdings. This is an excellent database for acquiring correct bibliographic citations and locating copies of a title in the DC area.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
JSTOR is a digital archive of fully searchable back issues of scholarly journals in anthropology, Asian studies, Afro American studies, ecology, economics, education, finance, general science, history, literature, mathematics, philosophy, political science, sociology, and statistics. It also includes over 2 million rights-cleared images (fka ARTstor) from major collections around the world, discoverable alongside JSTOR’s electronic texts on one feature-rich platform. Learn more about the transition to JSTOR.

University Libraries

English Language and Literature Research Guide

Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin

Drawing

Abstracts, Bibliographies and Indices

Subject relevant databases

Multidisciplinary Subject Databases